Thread: Coticules and Jnats

Howdy everyone. Up until now I have only been using coticules for all my straight razor needs. Last night I decided to order a jnat and some Nagura from jns.

Now my question is how different is working the slurry on a jnat compared to a coticule. Do I build the slurry and slowly dilute to plain water?

Also wondering if anyone has tried using a nagura on a coticule or coticule slurry on a jnat? Would the different slurries on the stones makes a difference?

They are very different stones, Jnats are both friable (easily broken down to small fragments) and frangible (easily broken, fragile). Coticules are frangible and not friable, (the garnets do not break down). So, the slurrys act very differently.

Performance is also very different and a Jnat can be adjusted depending on the Nagura used, the base stones limitations and technique.

Yes, you can use Jnat Nagura slurry on other base stones with limited success, the magic of the Jnat is the combination and continued breaking down of the grits from both the base stone and Nagura, a kind of slurry cocktail.

A good current thread is Gasman’s (Playing with a Jnat) in the honing forum, where Jerry an experienced honer is new to Jnats and learning a Jnat with various nagura.

There is much written and good video about the use of Jnats, a good place to start are videos of Alex Gilmore’s, (Japan Stone) and Keith Johnson, (Tomo Nagura) for simple no nonsense introductory explanation and many good video tutorials.

I also recommend Stefan's (mainaman) excellent video on Nagua Honing on the Main Page of this forum.